Low Cost Energy Efficient Housing by South African Housing Associations

energy4africa.net.

Rogier Jongeling MSc – Wim Klunne MSc – Stephan Maathuis MSc – Ynso Suurenbroek MSc

Introduction
When the Government of National Unity came to power in South Africa in 1994, it inherited a housing sector with severe abnormalities as a result of the policies and political turbulence of the Apartheid era (DoH, 2000). One of the main problems was and is the enormous housing backlog. The total housing demand for the coming 20 years is estimated on 5.7 million houses (ECN, 2000). To cope with this demand for housing, the government adopted in 1994 a housing policy aimed to build one million low cost houses by the year 1999. By the end of 1999 the delivery of the promised one million houses was not met and the current delivery experiences also problems. The houses produced in general did not meet the standards as set by the government. Especially the quality and affordability of the housing
products were not satisfactory.

Read more: http://energy4africa.net/publications.pdf

Affordable Land and Housing in Latin America and the Caribbean

Adequate Housing Series- Volume 1 – UN Habitat – 2011
Countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region were the first in the developing world to go through rapid urbanisation. Today, the region is the second most urbanised region in the world. 
This urbanisation process has been accompanied by sharp social contrasts and economic disparities, a buoyant informal housing and land development process and increased local democracy and municipal autonomy, coupled with active social urban movements. This makes the Latin America and Caribbean region a unique landscape in the study of land and housing for the poor. 
This study brings forward the complexity and richness of the housing responses undertaken by national and local governments, as well as NGOs in the region, with the aspiration to inspire other regions where similar trends are arising. Shedding light on critical indicators and the overall housing needs of the region. This publication provides an authoritative study for housing experts, policy makers, whilst enhancing our knowledge about the ways in which countries of Latin America and the Caribbean address land and housing needs.

Download PDF: Affordable Land and Housing in Latin Americca and the Caribbean

Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme
(UN-HABITAT), 2011
An electronic version of this publication is available for download from the UN-HABITAT web-site at
http://www.unhabitat.org
All rights reserved
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
P.O. Box 30030, GPO Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Tel: +254 20 762 3120
Fax: +254 20 762 3477
Web: www.unhabitat.org

Disclaimer
Excerpts from the text may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated.
HS Number: HS/109/11E
ISBN Number (Series): 978-92-1-131938-5
ISBN Number (Volume): 978-92-1-132235-4
Design and Layout: Gideon Mureithi/UNON
Printing: UNON, Publishing Services Section, Nairobi,
ISO 14001:2004-certified.

Affordable Land and Housing in Asia

Adequate Housing Series 2 – UN Habitat – 2011

In the vast majority of countries land and housing affordability is a critical contemporary challenge. While in different countries and regions the specificities of the challenge vary, the universal truism is that it is becoming increasing difficult for the vast majority of urban residents to obtain and retain adequate and affordable land and housing.

This series canvases the state of affordable land and housing in four regions facing major affordability difficulties: Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and Europe and North America (member countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). Each volume firstly explores the major trends in housing conditions, availability, quality and tenure modalities. Following this, each volume analyses housing policy responses to address growing affordability problems and the improvement of substandard housing conditions. Lastly, key recommendations for local, national and international policy initiatives that can increase the provision of affordable housing in the respective regions is provided.

Download PDF: Affordable Land and Housing in Asia

Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme
(UN-HABITAT), 2011 Read more

Affordable Land and Housing in Africa

Adequate Housing Series 3 – UN Habitat – 2012

In the vast majority of countries land and housing affordability is a critical contemporary challenge. While in different countries and regions the specificities of the challenge vary, the universal truism is that it is becoming increasing difficult for the vast majority of urban residents to obtain and retain adequate and affordable land and housing.

This series canvases the state of affordable land and housing in four regions facing major affordability difficulties: Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and Europe and North America (member countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). Each volume firstly explores the major trends in housing conditions, availability, quality and tenure modalities. Following this, each volume analyses housing policy responses to address growing affordability problems and the improvement of substandard housing conditions. Lastly, key recommendations for local, national and international policy initiatives that can increase the provision of affordable housing in the respective regions is provided.

Download PDF: Affordable Land and Housing in Africa

Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme
(UN-HABITAT), 2012 Read more

Benny Lam – Photography – Poverty & Property: The Claustrophobic Reality of HK Shoeboxes

December 17, 2012 – hongwrong.com.

Benny Lam’s photo series gives us a claustrophobic glimpse inside HK’s sub-divided ‘shoeboxes’.

Less than 7% of Hong Kong’s land is designated for residential use, whilst some residents have been waiting years for public housing. Despite the conditions and illegal nature of subdivided dwellings, demand remains high. They are typically seen in older buildings, which often have more relaxed property management. Such properties remain a lucrative investment for home owners.

See: Benny Lam – Poverty and Property

Boomtown Slum – A Day in the Economic Life of Africa’s Biggest Shanty-Town

The Economist, December 22, 2012

MEN in patched overalls and women in freshly washed blouses walk down a narrow lane just after six in the morning. They are packed in tightly like spectators leaving a sports stadium, but this is their life, their every morning. Backs are straight; trousers and sleeves rolled up, exposing mottled yet able limbs. They crush discarded wrappers of quick-fry breakfasts under foot, corn and oil dripping from mouths. Banana skins are ground to dust by thousands of feet.

Everyone is moving in one direction, jostling and shoving, out of a maze of low-strung shacks, past shops selling shoes and phones that have already been open an hour, out into the high-rise centre of Nairobi, where factories and offices pay salaries—everyone, that is, except a limp male figure huddled in a corner strafed by the first delicate rays of the sun. He seems to wait for the crowd to pass or at least thin before he dares to swim upstream. His hair is short and shiny as if sanded down rather than cut; his shirt is in pieces. He tells your correspondent that he has just arrived from the countryside. This is not home, he says. He does not sound convinced it ever will be.

Read more: A Day in the Economic Life of Africas Biggest Shanty Town